Ross Brawn taking 1 year sabbatical; returning with Honda

Reports on twitter say he will announce it this week....
Returning to Honda for 2015.

 

Didn't we already know he was out at Merc?

How do you mean 'returning with Honda'? He'll work for the engine supplier, or join Mclaren? (I can see the latter, but I don't see him working directly for Honda).

That would also imply that Whitmarsh is on his way out, and that doesn't seem likely even given how badly they suck right now.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I believe it means he will lead Honda's engine effort only, not McLaren's team.
But if mclaren has another disaster year then long term I can see him at McLaren, if they dump whitmarsh

 

OK, fair enough.

I'm surprised, but maybe he likes the idea of being a little more 'behind the scenes' rather than another team principal role.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Weird. Fishing for a year again, then Honda to do what?

 

To run their unsuccessful attempt before they leave the sport, buy back the remaining operations and win with those and the help of his F1 race director fishing mate? And then sell to another big manufacturer?

I know, it sound improbable...

 

Weird indeed.

 

You think possible return in ferrari ?

 

hah! Honda's only hiring him to get back at him right. They'll make sure he is installing valve seats manually for the rest of his days.

 

Newey may be genius but Brawn is smart.

 

When you put it like that, it does indeed sound improbable. A Hollywood movie script for sure...

It will be interesting to see what he does next year. McLaren have already written off 2014 as a testing season - all their efforts will be put into developing the 2015 car and properly integrating it with the Honda package. It bodes well for 2015 and the Brawn move could well turn out to be (another) stroke of genius.

 

Does anyone know where Honda are planning on building and developing their F1 engine program? In the past, as far as i know they have always done it in Japan. If thats the case this time i would very surprised if Brawn is heading their operations. If they are basing it in England, then it makes a lot of sense.

 

Funny, history repeating itself.

He did the exact same thing in 2006.

 

He left Mercedes in 2006??

 

He really likes trout fishing indeed, that's all. Pity for him that he has to work from time to time between fishing tours.

Rgds

 

"The engine will be built in Japan and run from a new factory in Milton Keynes"

 

I believe the engine for their recent F1 car was built in Bracknell. UK

 

Got a feeling that Honda will also try to persuade Red Bull to take on their engine once they establish themselves as contenders
This would be accomplished if the have Ross on board - IMO

 

I hope it's true, but can't find anything to that effect. There is news that he's leaving Mercedes, but nothing that confirms it's Honda. Some rumours that it could be Ferrari.

If this is true..

McLaren and Honda are lining everything up for 2015. Honda, Peter Prodromou, Brawn(?).

Imo Peter Prodromou (and his right hand guy) leaving Newey and Red Bull can only mean that he'll be technical director at McLaren.

McLaren and Ferrari both need to replace Whitmarsh and Domenicalli. Remember the days of Ron Dennis and Jean Todt, they were different teams then.

 

I'm with you on replacing Whit & Dom - Aero is playing too big of roll in F1 - IMO

 

I'd love to see Whitmarsh dropped.. He's a total idiot. Possibly a bigger one than Ron Dennis (if that's even possible)

 

Ron D maybe many things but he isn't an idiot.

 

Plus Alonso

 

He is an idiot. Remember what he said about Kubica needing to fix his nose? How silly was that?

How did he handle the Alonso vs Hamilton debacle? I rest my case.

 

Well to be fair I'd say Ham's out of the box rookie driving skills took many, if not all by surprise, Alonso included.

And as we can glean Alonso is not a fan of fast team mates allowed to race him.

You could also argue since Ron stepped down, Mclaren have nose dived..

You could call me an idiot if I had a net worth of £90 million, however The Times put his wealth at £200 million in 2009. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2011, Dennis' net worth is estimated to be £177M.....